| Abstract: | Locatable minerals have been produced from the Chugach National Forest (CNF) for nearly
100 years. Past gold production has come from the Kenai Peninsula and the Girdwood,
Port Wells, and Valdez areas. Copper and by-product gold and silver have been produced
from mines at Ellamar, on Latouche Island, and near Valdez. Many of the past-producing
properties were not mined out and contain significant inferred reserves of gold, copper, lead,
zinc, and silver. This report outlines mineral resource areas (tracts) that contain both
identified and undiscovered mineral resources. These tracts were drawn on the basis of one
or more of the following criteria: (1) geochemical anomalies, (2) favorable geologic units,
(3) presence of mines, prospects or mineral occurrences, and (4) geophysical anomalies.
Bliss (1989) used six mineral deposit models to describe the types of deposits known from
the CNF. Of these deposit types, only four are sufficiently known and defined in the CNF
to be suitable for consideration in outlining and ranking of mineral resource tracts; these
deposit types are: (1) Cyprus-type massive sulfide, (2) Chugach-type low-sulfide goldquartz
veins, (3) placer gold, and (4) polymetallic vein.
The U.S. Bureau of Mines indicated that most of the inferred mineral reserves in the CNF
would not be economic to produce under current prices. Small-scale placer gold operations
are a possible exception. Other known resources that have recorded past production (oil,
coal, rock, sand, and gravel) are not addressed in this report. |
| Genre: | USGS Numbered Series |
| ProdID: | 32314 |
| Citation Author: | Nelson, S. W.; Miller, M. L. |
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| Citation Language: | ENGLISH |
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| Citation Phsyical Description: | 22 p. |
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| Citation Series: | Open-File Report |
| Citation Series Code: | OFR |
| Citation Series Number: | 2000-26 |
| Citation Search Results Text: | Assessment of mineral resource tracts in the Chugach National Forest, Alaska; 2000; OFR; 2000-26; Nelson, S. W.; Miller, M. L. |
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| Citation Year: | 2000 |
| Type: | citation/reference |
| Text: | Assessment of mineral resource tracts in the Chugach National Forest, Alaska; 2000; OFR; 2000-26; Nelson, S. W.; Miller, M. L. |
| URL (THUMBNAIL): | http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/thumbnails/usgs_thumb.jpg |
| URL (INDEX PAGE): | http://geopubs.wr.usgs.gov/open-file/of00-026/ |
| Date Other: | Fri, 1 Sep 2000 00:00 -0500 |
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